Discovery
by sunnyblainey
Summary: In which Scorpius and Al discover each other.


Fifth year. O.W.L year. Albus Potter couldn't have been more ready for it. He kissed his mother good bye and gave a parting hug to his father.  
>"See you at Christmas!" He called as he climbed onto the train. He found a compartment without much trouble and slid into it. They had arrived at the platform early, as was his father's habit, so he had the compartment to himself until his friends would arrive. Albus decided to pass the time by reading a muggle book his Aunt Hermione had gotten him for his birthday. It wasn't long before he heard someone loudly putting their trunk up in the luggage rack.<br>"D'ya mind?" He queried, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope not at all, do you?" The other responded with a smirk. Albus noticed with a twinge of guilt just how cute his best friend was when he smirked like that. He scoffed and returned to reading.  
>"Whatcha readin'?" Scorpius asked.<br>"Muggle book. It's called Lord of the Rings. My Aunt Hermione gave it to me for my birthday. It's actually really good."  
>"Cool. What's it about?"<p>

Albus knew this would be the end of his reading for the rest of the trip, so he put the book away and began to explain the general plot of the book to Scorpius.  
>"…and the Ring is very dangerous, but Frodo and the Company have to get the Ring to Mordor to destroy it, or else Middle Earth will be doomed." He finished.<br>"That sounds like the kind of book I'd read… Would you be willing to loan it me sometime?" Scorpius asked as he counted out his share of Galleons for when the Trolley would go by.  
>"Of course! As soon as I'm done with the first book you can borrow it." Al replied, and began to count out his share. Scorpius grinned.<br>"Excited for O.W.L year?" The blonde grinned.

"Yep! I've already read through all our books." Al replied.

"Al, I know we're in Ravenclaw… but only YOU would do that." Scorpius laughed. Al chuckled, but was spared from further torment when Albus' girlfriend, Alice Longbottom II walked in.  
>"Hi Ally-Cat!" she cooed in an almost sickeningly sweet voice. Scorpius barely contained a smirk at the nickname, but Al just ignored it and moved over for Alice. The brunette sat down, not in the spot Al had made by moving over, but on his lap. "I missed you!" She crooned.<p>

"I wrote to you almost everyday!" He chuckled.  
>"But it wasn't the same! I'm just glad to be back in your arms." She rubbed her head on his chest to emphasize the point. Scorpius raised his eyebrow, but said nothing. For at that moment, his own girlfriend Rose Weasley burst into the compartment.<br>"We made it with ten minutes to spare! TEN MINUTES! I swear, I'm gonna KILL my dad…" She raged as she packed her trunk up in the luggage rack. She put Alice's up there as well, as the other girl hadn't bothered in her excitement to see Al. Rose then sat next to a bemused Scorpius who kissed her forehead.

"How was your summer?" He asked. Rose sighed.

"It. Was. Awful. Hugo wouldn't stop going on and on about how he's allowed to visit Hogsmeade now, I swear I wanted to just punt him all the way there so he'd shut up about it!"  
>"I could just lock him in Filch's office for you…" Scorpius offered.<p>

"Please!" She leaned her head against him and he put an arm around her as the train began to move. Albus pushed Alice off his lap to wave out the window at his parents. After the train moved around the corner he sat back down and looked at Alice.  
>"So… How was your summer?" Preparing for his ears to be talked off.<p>

…...

The first few weeks of school went by fast. Scorpius and Al both successfully made it back onto the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, as beaters. They had a ton of homework, which surprised them at first, but they eventually adjusted to it and worked out a schedule to complete it. They spent hour after hour in the common room at night working, each thankful their girlfriends were in Gryffindor and not able to distract them. It was on one such night Al sat across from his best friend, they were deep into a Charms assignment, but Al was having trouble focusing. Scorpius was chewing on his quill, looking thoroughly frustrated and confused.  
>'Merlin, he's cute when he's frustrated… Wait, where did that come from? He's your best friend you dolt! Okay… you just think he's good looking, I mean he does have really nice body. It's like looking at a god someti- What am I saying?' Al shook the thoughts from his mind. Why was he thinking these things? He wasn't even gay… Or was he? The table shook slightly as he suddenly stood up and went to his dorm muttering something about a headache to a surprised Scorpius.<p>

Once in his bed, he lay awake thinking. Now that he thought about it, he had never really felt anything for girls. When he was with Alice, he didn't feel love. He didn't even really like her. She was an annoyance, he found himself dreading her presence. He felt disgusting every time she touched him. He wasn't sure if that was because she was… well, Alice, or if it was because she was a girl. He guessed a bit of both. Even if he _was _gay, then why did it have to be Scorpius he seemed to want? Scorpius was dating Rose, and certainly seemed happy, even if she did complain a lot and her fiery red headed temper was legend in the halls of Hogwarts.  
>Al had not made any headway in figuring things out when Scorpius entered the dorm. Al immediately closed his eyes and feigned sleep while Scorpius threw his Charms books into his school bag and started to undress. Al cracked one of his eyes open and saw a magnificent sight, Scorpius, without a shirt... stretching. Al immediately closed his eyes again. There was definitely something going on.<p>

…...

Al's apparent fascination with Scorpius did not abate over the next few days, or even a month later, on Halloween. It was a Saturday, so there were no classes. When Al woke up, it was to his shirtless best friend shaking him.  
>"Wake up Al!" The blonde sniggered when Al fell backwards out of his bed. "Get dressed, Hogsmeade visit today remember?" Al groaned, something was bound to go wrong today. Something always went wrong on Halloween for his family. It was with a reluctant attitude that he got dressed and went down to breakfast with Scorpius. He had barely sat down at Ravenclaw table when they were both bombarded by their Gryffindor girlfriends.<br>"So I thought we'd go to Madam Puddifoot's today!" Alice said cheerfully, while Rose was asking Scorpius for tips on how to win the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match the following day. Al turned to Alice,

"Um… I don't really care for that place. Can we go to the Hog's Head?" He asked. Much to his surprise Alice blew up.

"The Hog's Head? You want to take me to the Hog's Head? ARE YOU MAD, POTTER? Or are you just embarrassed to be seen with me? You've been avoiding me for a month! I'm sick of it, GOOD BYE POTTER." And with that she stormed out of the Hall leaving a stunned Albus and a silent Great Hall.

"What… the… hell?" Scorpius uttered as he turned to look at Al. Rose seemed equally as stunned. Al glanced across the Hall to the Gryffindor table where his brother and sister were sitting with raised eyebrows. He waited for the rest of the students to start chattering amongst themselves before he got up and rushed out of the Hall. He vaguely heard Scorpius excuse himself from Rose and rush after, but he didn't stop. Al wasn't sure where he was going, he just knew that he wanted to be alone. He broke into a run and didn't stop until he reached his dorm room, where he threw him self on the bed and whipped the curtains shut. So Alice broke up with him, big deal. Why was he so upset? _Because she did it in front of Scorpius… _said the voice in his head. He dropped his head into his hands. He heard the door open and close again before Scorpius' melodic tenor voice floated through the air to reach his only too willing ears.

"Albus? You okay?"

It was a mark of their friendship that Al didn't chew Scorp's head off for calling him Albus. _And a mark of how much you care for him… _Al thought. He didn't answer Scorpius right away, not really knowing the answer himself. It wasn't until Scorpius pulled back the curtains that Al looked up.

"Al?"

That was all it took to make Al fall apart. He let the tears he'd been holding back for almost a month come falling down. Scorpius looked surprised, surely Al could not be this upset over Alice breaking up with him, he'd done nothing but complain about her for almost two weeks. So why was he crying? Not really knowing what else to do, Scorpius sat on the bed next to Al and asked what was wrong.

Al furiously wiped at his tears and took a deep breath. "Don't hate me…" He said, almost pleadingly, and Scorpius felt the urge to comply.

"Scorpius… I'm er… gay. Well, maybe bi, I'm not sure yet." After saying this Al immediately grabbed a pillow and buried his face into it.

"You are?" Scorpius seemed utterly surprised by this, and yet, oddly happy. A didn't waste too much time puzzling on this though. He simply told Scorpius that it was the reason he didn't want to be with Alice anymore, and the only reason he was even crying in the first place was because she made a big scene of it on Halloween. Which, as common knowledge, was Al's least favourite day. It wasn't the whole truth, but at least he wasn't lying to his best friend. He shook away his tears and told Scorpius he was fine, and that he wouldn't be going to Hogsmeade today.

"You should go on, Rose will be wondering where you are. You can tell her what I just told you if you want… just don't let James find out." He told Scorpius, who hesitated for a brief moment before leaving Al alone in the dorm to think things over.

…

Later that evening Scorpius stormed into the room, seeming to be in a bit of a bad mood. When Al asked what was wrong the other boy turned and yelled, "You're gay! That's what's wrong!"

Al looked hurt and made to get up and leave but Scorpius stopped him. "Wait! I'm sorry… I didn't mean that… it's just, I told Rose and she got mad at me for being okay with it. She accused me of being in love with you and made a big scene in Madam Puddifoots." Here Scorpius visibly shuddered, he didn't particularly care for the place either. He sighed. "I told her…"

He broke off, leaving Al to prompt him, "You told her…?"

"I told her she was right…"

"She was right about what?"

"She was right about me loving you! Dolt… honestly, for a Ravenclaw, you really aren't that bright sometimes."

Al swallowed. "Scorpius please tell me this isn't a joke…"

"I… what?"

"Say it isn't a joke! I need to know I'm not dreaming…"

"Al... I'm not joking. I love you. I have for a while, but I've been denying it."

Al seemed to stop breathing for a second. He couldn't find the words to say what he wanted to say, so he ran and flung himself at Scorpius kissing him full on the lips.

It was like fireworks, the WWW kind that just don't seem to extinguish and keep multiplying. Momentarily surprised Scorpius silently thanked Merlin he and Al were the only residents of the Ravenclaw 5th year boys' dorm, as they had been the only two boys in their year sorted into Ravenclaw. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity, but entirely too short at the same time, and when they finally did break apart neither boy could find the words to speak. They simply stared into each other's eyes.

And at the exact same time, they spoke, the exact same words.

"I love you."

Fin.


End file.
